Third Woman Joins Racial Discrimination Case Against Fox News

Some shocking new allegations have been made in the racial discrimination case against Fox News. Today, the complaint filed last week was amended to add a new plaintiff and to add allegations that Fox knew of the racial discrimination and tolerated it for years.

The amended complaint paints Judy Slater, Fox’s just-terminated comptroller as an even bigger monster than she seemed in the original. The new plaintiff, Monica Douglas, alleges Slater:

Repeatedly referred to Ms. Douglas’s home, Brooklyn, as the “murder capital of the world” because a lot of black people live in her area;

Insulted Ms. Douglas’s heritage (her family is from Panama) by saying that Slater would not even let her dog eat the food that Panamanians eat;

On a regular basis, in reference to food brought in by Ms. Douglas, would say “you eat what we (white people) throw away;”

Constantly mock[ed] Ms. Douglas for the size of a breast that was removed as part of her cancer treatment, including in front of other employees;

As I’ve previously noted, Fox’s claim that it suddenly discovered its comptroller was a racist after 19 years on the job strained credulity on the face of it. But today’s complaint specifically alleges that Fox higher-ups deliberately ignored Slater’s racist behavior:

107. […] Ms. Douglas complained on a number of occasions to [Fox General Counsel Dianne] Brandi. Indeed, more than two years ago, on November 10, 2014, at 1:00 p.m., Ms. Douglas complained to Brandi about the racial discrimination committed by Slater. Nothing was done to remedy the problem, and the discrimination continued.

108. Then in mid-2015, Brandi contacted Ms. Douglas regarding a complaint about Slater that she had received from the former Director of Payroll, Natasha Beekharry. In response to Brandi’s inquiry, Ms. Douglas again complained about Slater’s discriminatory conduct. Again, nothing was done. Instead, Brandi declared that (despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and without conducting any investigation) she did not believe Slater to be racist. Brandi also said:

“Slater will not be fired because she knows too much,” referring to Slater’s knowledge regarding improprieties committed by former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes and former Fox News CFO Mark Kranz.

The complaint claims a number of other employees also told management about Slater's racist behavior.

And Fox may still be engaging in a cover up:

111. After this action was filed last week, Ms. Douglas was told that Fox’s outside attorneys would be conducting an interview with her regarding Slater’s conduct. Despite having already admitted that Slater’s conduct was “abhorrent” (See http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/fox-news-comptroller-judy-slater-1202016012/), Ms. Douglas was told:

“They are currently interviewing some people and asking if they could say something nice about Judy.”

Fox is already in a heap of legal trouble, what with the pile of sexualharassmentclaims and now these racial discrimination suits. But there’s also that federal inquiry into whether Fox hid settlement payments from its shareholders.

Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, for a shocking taste of Fox News racism, check out this August 6, 2008 segment from Hannity & Colmes which Sean Hannity allows a guest to attack “most blacks”in Tennessee as “so racist” that they "intimidate white America.” Not only did Hannity not challenge the outrageous allegation, he refused to let his other guest do so. Watch it below.

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I get tired of the ‘shoe on the other foot’ cliche arguments. Often they are straw men. That said…

I think it’s safe to say that if the New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, or any of the other usual ‘mainstream media’ outlets Fox News loves to trash was constantly buried in sexual harassment and now racial discrimination cases they’d be headlining the stories until the next millennium to undermine the legitimacy of their competition.

If you were telling me this was behaviour from a giant redneck middle America oil company in the early 90s, I would believe you(seen it first hand). If you told me this was behaviour from a tiny little hayseed middle America company today, I would believe you. But if you told me this was behavior from a modern giant media company operating out of New York City, I would be open mouthed. Confounded. Hornswoggled. Gobsmacked!! (John McKee can probably think of a few others.) That is,….. until you told me the name of the company involved. Faux.

If we all get out our prybars and turn over this rock, we can see all kinds of creepy crawlers escaping the sunlight.